The Court of Appeal in Abuja has dismissed an appeal filed by the National Broadcasting Commission against a judgment that bars the regulator from imposing fines on broadcast stations, the second such dismissal this year.
The lead judge of the panel, Jane Esienanwan Inyang, ruled that the NBC's appeal was fundamentally defective and incompetent, and that the court therefore lacked jurisdiction to hear it.
The defect centred on a naming discrepancy: while the original suit identified the parties as the Incorporated Trustees of Media Rights Agenda against the National Broadcasting Commission, the NBC's notice of appeal described the appellant as the "Nigerian Broadcasting Commission" instead.
Inyang held that a notice of appeal is the foundation of any appeal and a condition precedent for the court to exercise jurisdiction, making the discrepancy fatal to the case.
The underlying dispute dates back to 2022, when the NBC moved to fine four broadcast stations - Multichoice Nigeria, owners of DSTV; TSTV; Trust-TV Network; and NTA Startimes - N5 million each, accusing them of undermining national security by airing documentaries on banditry in Nigeria.
The Media Rights Agenda challenged the fines in court, and in January 2024, Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia of the Federal High Court in Abuja restrained the NBC from enforcing them.
This is the NBC's second failed attempt to overturn that restraining order.
The Court of Appeal already dismissed a separate appeal against the same judgment in April.
The case traces back further still: in May 2023, the Federal High Court first ruled that the NBC lacks judicial powers to impose penalties on broadcast stations in the first place, a position the appellate court has now upheld twice.
The commission has previously used its fining powers extensively. In March 2019, under then-director-general Is'haq Modibbo Kawu, the NBC sanctioned 45 broadcast stations over alleged ethical breaches during that year's general election, fining each station N500,000.
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